Month

October 2017

UPDATE 16/11/17: After I wrote this post I was contacted by Steve McCormack from the NCETM to discuss the issue directly with Charlie Stripp on the first NCETM podcast. You can listen to the discussion (30 mns), also with the NCETM’s Carol Knights and Secondary maths teacher Rob Beckett, here.

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The new GCSE in mathematics is considerably harder than the old one which has resulted, not at all surprisingly, in very low grade boundaries. For the Edexcel Higher paper in Summer 2017 a score of 79% across three papers earned the highest possible grade, a Grade 9, and this grade was achieved by around 3.5% of the population across all exam boards.

The changes to A levels in England, with no more modular exams, terminal papers at the end of two years, and difficulty increased just like at GCSE, have resulted in most schools and colleges insisting students take only three subjects. Where previously a student would study four in Year 12 and “drop” one at the end of the year to continue with three into Year 13, now it is imperative that students are on the correct course from the beginning. There is no halfway house where they can bin off their worst subject, there are no modules to resit and up their final grade. Get it wrong and two years of study can end with little to show for it. Continue reading “Entrance requirements for A Level Maths”→